Improvement in stag i ng for building purposes



UNITED STATES QPATENT OFFICE.

EDSON D. WALKER, OF MIBLBURY, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN STAGINGFOR BUILDING PURPOSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 49,017, dated July 25, 1865.

' marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in prov'iding a safe and convenient method for the erection of staging forthe purpose ot' chimney building or repairing, and for the purposes of slating or shingling upon the roofs of buildings without nailing any portion of the staging to the roof, and is intended to avoid the danger, inconvenience, and loss resulting from the direct attachment ot` staging and brackets to the root by means of nails.

The danger existing when brackets are nailed to the root' arises from the fact that the nails cannot be driven in the direction of their greatest resistance to the force calculated to break or draw them. The inconvenience in the same case consistsin cutting boards for brackets and staging for each and every root' to be worked upon, while the loss consists in waste of nails and the damage done to the root' by leaving nail-holes, which in time become serious leaks.

The means by which I obtain the above ends are described as l'ollows:

Forstaging,whenthechimney comes through, the ridge of the roof, I make use ot' four pieces ot' scantling ten feet long by four inches wide and three inches deep. These are attached t0- gether, two by two, by means ota hinge, forming two straddle-pieces, so called, which stride the ridge of the roof and rest upon each side of it. (Plate l, Fig. 1, A.) These straddlepieces have gains cnt in them one foot apart, one inch deep, and one and one-half inch wide. (Plate 1, Fig. 2, a.) The hinge by which they are joined is made of iron three-eighths of an inch thick, and in such a manner as to admit a collar between thejoints ofthe hinge, which is held in its place by the bolt passing through the joints of the hinge. Plate l, Fig. 3, is the hinge with the collar a attached. Plate l, Fig. 4, is the collar enlarged, showing the holes through which the hinge-bolt passes. (Holes marked a.) In this collar is fastened an up.1

right bolt, (Plate l, Figs. 2, 3, and4, B and 1),) which passes through a block of wood, (Plate l, Fig. 5,) which lls the opening between the ends of the straddle-pieccs and rises to the level of their highest point. (Plate l1, Fig. 1, B.) The two sets ot'straddle-pieces are placed one 011 each side of the chimney, and in the gains'are placed standards (Plate 1, Fig'. 1, D) made as follows: Boards about eight inches wide are cnt of varying lengths, and upon the lower end is cut a gain four inches wide and two inches deep. (Plate 1, Fig. 6, a.) This gain allows the standard to rest on the roof and iill the gains ot' the straddlc-pieces. (Plate l, Fig. 1, D.) Upon the upper end ofthe standard is cut a tenon four inches long by three inches deep. (Plate 1, Fig. 6, b.) Four standards of the same height are placed in corresponding gains of the straddle-pieces, (Plate 1, Fig. l, D,) and the two upon each one are connected together by a piece about ten feet in length, eight inches wide, and one and one- 'ourth inch thick, (Plate 1, Fig. l, B, and Plate 1, Fig. 7,) having mortises cut in them of corresponding size with the tenons on the standards. (Plate 1, Fig. 7,a.)' These pieces pass over the blocks between the ends of the straddle-pieces, and the upright bolt, before spoken of, passes through them, and they are secured toit by means ot' thumb-screws. (Plate l, Fig. 1, a.) These cross-pieces are again connected together by other pieces of similar size, having mortises ofthe same size, but running in an opposite direction, for the tenons of the standards. (Plate 1, Fig. l, C.) These pieces are then fastened together by means of bolts running through them at each standard and held tast by thumb-screws. (Plate l, Fig. 1, a.) This completes the frame for a staging for a chimney at the ridge, as shown complete in Plate l, Fig. 1.

When the chimney is not upon the ridge, but down upon one side, so that all of the staging must be upon side, I make use ofthe straddlepieces as before, and they are prevented from pulling over on the side where the staging 1s by securing the block already spoken ot between the ends of the straddle-pieces at the hinge by means of the upright bolt in the collar and athumbscrew. (Plate11,Fig.1.) Bis the block in place, U the bolt, and a the thumbscrew. A standard (Plate 1l, Fig. 1, D) is made use of, as before, and the horizontal pieces are of the same size as before; but attached to one end of the horizontal piece running in the direction of the straddle-piece is a plate of iron about eight inches long, four inches Wide, and one-fourth of an inch thick, turned at the end in such a way as to form a hook which ts into the gains ofthe straddlc-piece. Plate 1l, Figs. 1 and 2, shous the method of hooking and the means made use of. Fig. 2, a, is theiron plate with holes, for the bolt to pass through. This piece is then made secure by a bolt passing through a block of wood, the piece itself and the straddle-piece being fastened by a thumb-screw. (Plate 11, Fig. 1, t' and a, and Fig. 3, A B a.) Cross-pieces are made use of, as before, to connect the standards of the straddle-pieces, and are fastened to the other pieces by bolts and thumb-screws, as before. (Plate 11, Fig. 1, E and a.) If a small staging is Wanted below the main staging, a bracket is bolted to each of the straddlepieces, as shown in Plate 11, Fig. 4, a. 1f the chimney be so lo7 down upon the roof as to be out of the reach of the straddlc-pieoes, a piece similar in construction to one side of the straddle-pieces is bolted to the straddle-piecc and the staging constructed upon this extended straddle-piece.

The staging for slating and shingling is constructed as follows: Brackets are made, as shown in Plate 11, Fig. 7, A, ot' a suitable len gth-say seveni'eet-so thattheir lower ends may abut against the poles of the side staging or upon jacks, according as one or the other may he used, to uphold the side staging, or upon the side stagingitself. (Plate 11, Fig. 5.)

A is the bracket abutting against and fastened to the pole at P and to the jack at F, their upper ends resting on the roof as high up on it as the extent of the shingles laid from the side staging. From the staging found on these brackets shingles or slates are laid as far up as convenient, and a new set of brackets are then placed with their ends abutting against the staging on those already used, (Plate 11, Fig. 7, 01,) and are prevented from slipping up on the said staging by blocks of Wood nailed to the staging, as shown in Plate 11, Fig. 8, a, or by bolting the ends together, as shown in Plate 11, Fig. 6, a. These brackets are made of any convenient width and thickness-say six inches Widebyone inch thick--and longenough to reach from one staging to the extent of the slating or shingling laid by a man from one staging-say about four and one-half feet.

Should it ever occur that the side stagingis so low that the long bracket (Plate 11, Fig. 5, A, and Fig. 7, A) will not reach it, a piece of plank is used upon the side staging with its length at right angles to the side staging, and sufficiently long to meet and support the bracket, itself being fastened to the side stag ing by nails and a block against the building and between the plank and eaves.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isf- The mode of construction of the staging with its straddle-pieces, brackets, standards, 8vo., as Within described.

EDSON D. WALKER.

Witnesses:

J oNAs WARD, JNO. HOPKINS. 

